Assuming the Google/Motorola merger goes through, Google might want to rethink that whole hands-off approach to managing its new hardware company. According to Motorola's press release, the company saw a net loss of about $80 million, after $3.4 billion in revenue. It's not the worst loss in the world, but shareholders are never happy when they see red.

It's official: AT&T-Mobile will not be happening any time soon. AT&T, the US's second-largest wireless carrier and all-around communications mega-corporation, after months of attempting to convince consumers and federal agencies alike that the deal was going to be good for everyone, has given up its plans to purchase T-Mobile, a division of Deutsche Telekom.

As part of the cancellation, AT&T will pay DT a $4 billion accounting fee to get out of its contract, as well as expand roaming agreements with the company (where, when, and for what purpose was not stated).

So yesterday, the FCC released a report detailing its feelings on the AT&T/T-Mobile. The FCC basically called it like it is and said the merger will reduce competition, raise prices, cost jobs, and AT&T will have to build out its network with or without T-Mobile.

Well, AT&T got wind of that report, and they are not happy. Today they responded with all the composure of a rejected middle schooler:

We expected that the AT&T-T-Mobile transaction would receive careful, considered, and fair analysis. Unfortunately, the preliminary FCC Staff Analysis offers none of that. The document is so obviously one-sided that any fair-minded person reading it is left with the clear impression that it is an advocacy piece, and not a considered analysis.

Over at Google's Public Policy Blog (yes, that really exists) today, Senior VP Dennis Woodside issued a statement that the U.S. Department of Justice was taking a "second look" at certain potential antitrust issues in the Google-Motorola deal. What's it mean?

A $12.5 billion acquisition of a major US company that has been independent for over 30 years is always going to invite scrutiny from Uncle Sam, and let's face it, it's probably not a bad sign that the government is batting a second eye at these kinds of purchases.

Last week, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust complaint against the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile deal. Naturally, Sprint was quite pleased by this, as it has been fighting this deal tooth-and-nail since its initial announcement. Now, The Now Network has filed its own suit to block the deal.

Sprint's lawsuit is focused on how this merger would affect both competition and the consumer market, citing that it would:

Harm retail consumers and corporate customers by causing higher prices and less innovation.

In the ongoing saga that is the AT&T and T-Mobile merger, yet another bump in the road has surfaced. This time it's directly from the United States government, who says that if the AT&T/T-Mobile merger were to go through, it would "remove a significant competitive force from the market." As a result, the U.S. has filed an antitrust complaint looking to block the proposed deal.

While this doesn't mean a guaranteed rejection, it is most definitely going to make progress much harder for Ma Bell.

It's no secret that the acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T is largely unpopular in the Android community. T-Mobile was the first carrier to offer an Android phone and has been very supportive of the development community as of late. It would be a real shame to let an Android-friendly carrier fall under the control of a company that has the absolute worst track record in regards to Android devices, and mobile service in general.

T-Mobile is starting to get aggressive with customer acquisition and retention, and in light of less than stellar fiscal performance and the news of the AT&T deal, it's not hard to see why.

On April 13, the carrier will begin offering a new off-contract smartphone plan, and it's a steal - for $59.99 a month (down from $79.99), you'll get unlimited talk, text and data*. But, there are some significant catches.

In a move that comes way out of left field, AT&T and T-Mobile officially announced today that the former will be buying the latter for $39 billion. This is contrary to what we've been hearing around the 'net that Sprint was the one likely to be making the purchase, but in some ways, a merger with AT&T does make more sense.

For starters, AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM, while Sprint relies on CDMA.

News comes this morning that Deutsche Telekom has been having talks to sell its T-Mobile US unit to Sprint in a deal that would combine the third and fourth largest US carriers. Deutsche Telekom would reportedly still have "a major stake" in the newly merged company, so this would be seen as more of a merger than a selloff.

Deutsche Telekom Chief Financial Officer Timotheus Hoettges said about the possible deal: "In general, all options are open in the U.S.